The Chaotic World of a Young Unorganized Writer

Posts Tagged ‘bad authors’

Okay, so today I read a blog that made me realize that many writers have a very elitist attitude and there are no exceptions, even when it comes to best selling authors who stay on top. Like many elitist writers, I too have an author who I still don’t understand why her books are so big, but I have also come to realize that the reason I despise her books so much is because the comments she has made toward her own fans made me dislike her as a person. So personal feelings aside, I am determined to look at her books with the most unbiased eye I can in order to see what makes her novel so unique.

Now some people may say marketing, that’s all it is, she had great marketing, but I don’t believe that’s so since she has more than one book out and fans have returned to buy them, so marketing may be so for the first, but not so much for the next. If people didn’t like what they got the first time around, they won’t care how much you market the second book.

So, my challenge to everyone who is reading this, I want you to pick the commercial author you despise the most, borrow a copy of their work, and with an honest eye try to find what makes their piece of work, well, work.

I think this will be good exercise in identifying are own biases and realizing where we fall short. Perhaps we put too much emphasis and value on one writing technique and not enough on another. As writers we should appreciate the work that is out there, even if it doesn’t fit our personal taste, or we feel that it was riddled with grammatcial errors. The more we expose ourselves outside of our own comfortable bubbles, the better are writing will become.

Besides, anyone can tear a piece of work apart, it takes another kind of person to figure out why it works, despite all its flaws.

So tell me, are you a victim of writer’s elitism? If so, why? Is it personal reasons? Did the authors book touch on a controversial issue and his/her work didn’t support your side? Be honest with yourself.

And like always, my pencil has vanished from behind my ear. Excuse me for a moment while I find it again.